For many years, brominated oils of specific gravity greater than 1.00 g/ml have been used in combination with flavor oils or vegetable oils to yield a balanced oil blend, i.e., one having a density close to that of the beverage base in which it is to be suspended. A balanced oil dispersed in a beverage base having the same density yields a stabilized, non-ringing, cloudy beverage. This is particularly true with citrus oils, which, being highly insoluble in beverage bases, would float to the top unless balanced with a high density oil-soluble material such as brominated vegetable oil. The dispersion of the balanced oil in the aqueous solution has a cloudy appearance which is desirable in terms of consumer appeal.
It has been announced that brominated vegetable oils may have toxic effect, as a result of which the F.D.A. has limited its use to 15 ppm in finished drinks; this is about 10% of the concentration formerly used. As a substitute for brominated vegetable oils, the industry generally turned to another oil-soluble material of density greater than 1.00 g/ml that was approved for food use. The material was glyceryl abietate, generally termed Ester Gum. Although glyceryl abietate accomplishes the same purpose as brominated vegetable oil, namely stabilization and clouding, it has a number of deficiencies; (1) Since its specific gravity is 1.08 as compared to approximately 1.30 for brominated vegetable oils, a much greater amount of Ester Gum, namely, about three times as much, must be used to achieve the same degree of balancing. The resultant taste possesses a bitter character. (2) Although both glycerol and abietic acid are natural products, Ester Gum is nevertheless a synthetic material which precludes its use in those products which the producer wants to label as natural.
What is needed then, is a natural, oil-soluble resin which has a density sufficiently greater than 1.00 so that it is useful for balancing purposes and which is sufficiently free of unpleasant taste so that it may be used in the necessary proportions for balancing any flavor or vegetable oils to be used in an intended beverage.